Archived decisions

Contact: Clive Erricker - County Inspector - RE (02392 441459)

[email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 On 19 April 2005 the Chair of SACRE's monitoring and self-evaluation sub-groups and the County Inspector attended the NASACRE annual general meeting

2.1 NASACRE Chair's report

The Chair of NASACRE reported that:

2.2 NASACRE had ensured that the National Framework for RE was sent to SACREs rather than directly to schools

2.3 It was important to adapt the Framework to the local situation not just adopt it as the Agreed Syllabus

2.4 Four bids for the Young People's Faith Forum had been successful, out of seventeen bids submitted, Portsmouth's bid (Appendix 1) had been successful.

3.1 News from the QCA Graham Langtree report that:

3.2 The self-evaluation guidance for SACREs was meant to be a constructive tool

3.3 SACRE's remit was principally concerned with producing agreed syllabuses and responding to determinations. Further activities were not necessarily the remit of SACREs but inclusion and young people's respect for other faiths were a logical extension of SACRE's work

3.4 References to proper budgeting and financing of SACREs in the Ofsted report on the inspection of SACREs was meant to be a constructive support for SACREs

3.5 The QCA website presented QCA's monitoring report on RE for 2004 and that a further project focusing on pupils' responses to RE carried out in 2005 would be posted on the website shortly, based on the question `Does RE Matter?' He reported that preliminary findings indicated a positive response in primary schools but a more mixed response in secondary

3.6 The function of the National Framework in RE was not to specify what religions should be taught when but that the original QCA Schemes of Work were being revised and would be republished in the light of the Framework. The Framework was constructed according to the design of the National Curriculum documents and therefore did not have a pedagogical methodology but that guidance in this respect is present in the `Experiences and Opportunities' Section. The Framework is meant to give national and global guidance for the construction of Agreed Syllabuses and that its first part on aims, values and purposes should be particularly useful, accompanied by local exemplification.

4.1 The NASACRE treasurers report indicated that finances were healthy at present but mainly due to the support of the Westhill Trust, which was no longer available. It was agreed that the SACRE's annual subscription to NASACRE should be increased from £50 to £75 to cover NASACRE's future expenses

5.1 A new NASACRE Chair, Vice Chair and Treasurer were elected and three new executive members

6.1 SACRE members were divided into groups and invited to respond to the Ofsted report on the inspection of SACREs. No plenary response was organised but two significant responses conveyed were that the budget and resource implications of SACREs' widened remit needed to be addressed and that SACREs operating in different localities needed to be aware of the impact that made on the teaching and learning in RE; for example difficulties in teaching about different faiths in `all white' areas

7.1 John Keast, RE consultant to the DfES, but speaking in a personal capacity, gave the keynote address on the theme of `Education without religion simply makes children into clever devils'. He developed the argument that religion was a significant repository of ethical values, that children lacked the religious literacy through which these values could be imparted, that RE was a major contributor to values education in this respect, with religion being understood in a broad sense as `worldviews', and that without ethical values being addressed through RE education would lack its ethical dimension and society would produce clever but impoverished individuals. The Nazis were offered as an example of such an outcome

Recommendation

That SACRE approves the report.

That SACRE consult the successful Portsmouth Young People's Faith Forum bid in its preparation for a joint SACRE bid for funding in 2006.

Background Papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB The list excludes:

1. Published works.

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.